In the Penal Times

transcribed at

In the Penal Times  [duchas:4696772]

In the "Penal Times" the Irish Catholics suffered to a great extent from the cruel laws of the English. The priests were not allowed to say mass in the Churches under pain of death. They had to dress as lay men and say mass on the hill-side on in the shelter of trees.
In Drumcolumb there is still to be seen a rock which was used as an alter in the penal times. Father Mac Manus used to say mass there and all the peasants around would attend. If the day was wet the men would put their walking-stick standing on the ground and spread their coats on them to protect the Blessed Sacrament.
It was quite common to see a priest's body dangling from a tree, where the "Red Coats" had hung him. The Catholics often endangered their lives by harbouring a priest in their houses, but they did not mind since it was for their Faith.
One day a priest was saying Mass on

In the Penal Times  [duchas:4696773]

on the hill side in Ross when he was informed that the Red Coats were coming. Immediately, he took flight, and entering the house of a Protestant farmer named Tom Patterson, begged to be sheltered. The Protestant took pity on him and hid him under some straw. Soon afterwards the "Red-Coats" entered the house and searched everywhere, but failing to find him they had to leave.
Next morning Tom Patterson had to go to Tubbercurry, with a load of hay, so he put the priest into the middle of the hay and conveyed him to a place of safety. Soon afterwards the same priest entered another Protestants house. This time he was put into a barrel. When the "Red-Coats" went into the house in search of him, the man of the house pointed at the barrel, so the Red-Coats found him and put him to death. Those Protestants got a good reward for betraying the priest.